Protraph Lack of good storyline.

Huievest Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

Numerootno A story that's too fascinating to pass by...

Arianna Moses Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

quasigirl7 this movie is great for the entire family and talks about real issues. you get to see how four culturally different families have thanksgiving dinner- something that ties all americans together. it went by quickly and the actors portrayed their characters amazingly accurately. you must see this movie if you have even a slightly opened mind.

chasa i've read a glowing review (above) and thought i might gave the movie a try. suffice to say, i was thoroughly disappointed. the story, switching from one family to another, seems jumpy and the flow was not well created. you often get lost where you are with which family.the multi-cultural theme is all well and good but with shallow story lines between each family and the poor connection, the result is a film with irrelevant bits and pieces chucked together.the acting was the only redeeming feature of the movie. the actors deserve full credit. i would have switched it off after twenty minutes were it not for decent acting. what irritated me the most though is the poor camerawork and editing. i caught, not just glimpses, the microphone appearing at the top of the screen three times.

m_finebesser I found this lame excuse for a slice-of-life comedy to be truly insulting and stereotyped. Only the Hispanic family is characterized with any dignity at all. Dennis Haysbert gives the worst performance of a distinguished career as the feckless husband of Alfre Woodard. Julianna Marguiles gets to smile winsomely and kiss Kyra Sedgwick, but has little else to do. Maury Chaikin is awful and Lanie Kazan trots out her Jewish mother yet again. As for, Joan Chen, she is so bad, it's embarrassing. The writing is puerile, and the situations pedestrian.Give thanks if you've managed to avoid this Thanksgiving-Day-themed turkey!

Daisy-45 You know i usually like to see a film at least twice before i say anything about it...i love the way you take something different out of it every time. This time...theres no need...but i WILL be off to see this one again if not again :) I admit i knew little of What's Cooking and to be honest i like it that way. Going into a film with no pre-conceptions. I guess i expected a fairly average 'done before' story line and boring underdeveloped characters. Well...scene one...i was sold..this movie is fantastic.I love the way that What's Cooking draws on a somewhat universal experience- in Thanksgiving, while at the same time highlighting that this one day is so very different for people. It chose to show this difference across a spectrum of cultral backgrounds: The Asian family struggling with tradition, the Hispanic family dealing with a family breakdown; the African-American family facing infidelity and rebellion and the Jewish family struggling with conformity. Strangely through such different stories it was plain to draw something from each one and relate back to your own experiences. This i think was one of the strongest points of this movie....it deals with something that most people are familiar with. Holidays with family that we love to hate and hate to love! The holidays that we can't wait to end but then can't wait for them to come around again. Even in the music score this was reflected (listen for the 'same but different' tune!)differently by all but still in many ways the same.The characters were perfect..you felt you knew them- again i think it comes down to relating back to your own experiences... You could take something from each one. I think that he cast was brilliant. I couldn't single out a single performance..this one was a team effort that paid off in a big way. Of the whole movie i would pick maybe one scene that seemed 'off'. The revelation at the Jewish table seemed to be played a little out of context of the characters. It just didn't seem right i guess but other than that i loved everything about this flick! i loved the movie, i loved that it wasn't predictable, i loved the music, the feel, the atmosphere, humour and warmth. It's not very often that you go to a movie and sit for the whole time with a smile on your face and if it wasnt that in this one it was an equally moving emotion. The best way to sum up this cleverly structured peoples piece is that it is incredibly warm. I had tears in my eyes for practically the whle film from laughter, fear, anticipation, sadness or a little bit of everything all at once! That in itself signifies the imense depth this film created from its inocent simplicity of just looking at life and people at their best and worst! I liken it in many ways to 'Playing By Heart' in its structure and insight into everyday people issues, but this film was far better in its reach to the audience and more powerful and sublte in its storyline. One of the best i've seen